Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/209

 order to meet liabilities incurred in connection with his early projects.

His first wife died before 1606, and in that year he married Elizabeth Maxwell, eldest daughter of John, lord Herries, the staunch friend of Queen Mary, and widow of Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar. She also predeceased him. On 12 July 1623 he lay on his deathbed and made his will, dying shortly afterwards in the same month. He had five sons and three daughters. One of the sons, Thomas, is said to have written a history of the family. A portrait of the 'founder of Fraserburgh' was engraved by Pinkerton for his 'Scots Gallery of Portraits,' vol. ii., from the original in the possession of Mr. Urquhart at Craigston. His motto was, 'The glory of the honourable is to fear God.'

[Index Registri Magni Sigilli, in Signet Library, Edinburgh; Spalding's Miscellany, v. 358; Antiquities of Aberdeen, vol. iv.; Anderson's History of the Family of Fraser; Lord Saltoun's Frasers of Philorth (1879).]  FRASER, ALEXANDER (1610?–1681), physician. [See ]  FRASER, ALEXANDER (1786–1865), painter and associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, was born at Edinburgh on 7 April 1786. He studied painting under John Graham at the academy of the Board of Trustees for the Improvement of Manufactures in Edinburgh, and had among his fellow-students William Allan, John Burnet, David Thomson, and David Wilkie. In 1809 he sent to the Exhibition of the Associated Artists in Edinburgh a painting of 'Playing at Draughts,' and at once became known as a painter of Scottish character and history, with a spirited and vigorous execution. In 1810 he sent from Edinburgh to the Royal Academy in London 'A Green Stall,' and in 1812 'The New Coat' and 'Preparing for the Fish Market.' From this date he was a frequent contributor to the leading exhibitions in London and Edinburgh. In 1813 he left Edinburgh to reside in London, and soon gained a good position. At this time his former fellow-pupil, Wilkie, was at the zenith of his popularity, and Fraser engaged with him to paint the details and still-life in Wilkie's pictures, which he continued to do for about twenty years. This did not, however, interfere with his own practice as a painter, though his connection with Wilkie and the similarity of their taste and subject not unnaturally led to his art being overshadowed by Wilkie's superior genius. In 1842 his 'Naaman cured of the Leprosy' obtained the premium at the British Institution for the best picture of the year. He was soon after elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, in the foundation of which he had taken a share. Fraser last exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1848, and on approaching seventy years of age he was prevented by ill-health from practising his profession. He died at Wood Green, Hornsey, on 15 Feb. 1865. Fraser's pictures, which, are very numerous, have always been popular. 'Cobbler and Bird,' dated 1826, a small panel picture, is at Woburn Abbey. 'The Interior of a Highland Cottage,' formerly in the Vernon Collection, is now in the National Gallery; it was engraved by C. Cousen for the Vernon Gallery. Others have been engraved, including 'Robinson Crusoe reading the Bible to his man Friday,' and 'Asking a Blessing,' both by C. G. Lewis; 'The First Day of Oysters,' by W. Greatbatch ; 'The Noonday Meal,' by P. Lightfoot; 'War's Alarms,' by W. H. Simmons; 'The Cobbler at Lunch,' by William Howison; 'The Moment of Victory,' by C. Rolls, &c. His works should be carefully distinguished from those of Alexander Fraser, the present Scottish academician.

[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Gent. Mag. 3rd ser. (1865) xviii. 652; Cunningham's Life of Sir David Wilkie; Art Journal, 1865; Catalogues of the Royal Academy, British Institution, &c.; Graves's Dict. of Artists (1760-1880); information from Mr. J. M. Gray.]  FRASER, ALEXANDER GEORGE, sixteenth (1785–1853), general, was the elder son of Alexander, fifteenth lord Saltoun of Abernethy in the peerage of Scotland, by Margery, daughter and heiress of Simon Fraser of Newcastle, a director of the East India Company. He was born in London on 12 April 1785, and on 13 Sept. 1793 succeeded his father in the Scotch peerage when still a minor. He entered the army as an ensign in the 35th regiment on 28 April 1802, and was promoted lieutenant on 2 Sept. following, and captain on 7 Sept. 1804. On 23 Nov. 1804 he exchanged into the 1st, afterwards the Grenadier guards, with which regiment he served continuously for many years. In September 1806 he accompanied the 3rd battalion of the 1st guards to Sicily, where it formed part of the guards brigade under Major-general Henry Wynyard, and in October 1807 he returned to England with it. In September 1808 he again left England, as lieutenant and captain of the light company of the 3rd battalion of the 1st guards, and; his battalion formed one of the two comprising the guards brigade of Major-general Henry Warde which landed at Corunna with the army under Sir David Baird. From

